I watched a very interesting programme on this topic last night presented by Kirsty Wark. It was an uncomfortable eye-opener about a particular issue that has been bugging me for a little while - that is the abuse of the internet to reinforce stereotypical and mob reactions. This programme looked at the way women have come under fire over this last ten years or so in a particularly vicious fashion, most notably death and rape threats expressed online. I found on aspect of her report particularly disturbing - and something I had not seen myself. The rise in "popularity" of the rape joke, as used by professional comedians and repeated in schools and youth centres the land over. When I was running my therapy practise I did a considerable amount of training and work in the field of sexual abuse of children and women, and got to observe some very dark outcomes at times. I worked on an emergency Rapeline for some time as well. It was an eye-watering experience. This is no joking matter....

It was also pretty astonishing to see examples of how females are represented in the computer games that so many of our young people play these days. And of course there is the ready availability of porn to youngsters these days courtesy of that same internet.

I was there at the start of the original liberation movement. I would not claim to have been a real card-carrying militant....but it mattered. We made some remarkable strides forward. Where did it all go? Did we go too far the other way? Did we stop remembering the purity of female strength? Has misandry caused an abreaction of some sort?

It was an unpleasant but educative watch....one which has left me wondering...

Loadsa love

Last edited by Jan on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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Arise anew as a child of the dawnRemember whence you cameWalk lightly, leaving whispers for footprintsAnd shine, refreshed in your rebirth

I think some feminists are getting very militant but more significantly a lot of men are getting more antagonistic as women encroach further into "their" territory and they are running out of walls to hide behind when administering prejudice. Their world is being disrupted and it's turning to open warfare.

I read an article about hair on a woman - I don't know how to write this politely, but let's say not the hair on her head - apparently it's standard operating procedure for men to request their girlfriends to wax it? And the one exception was lauded as a "male feminist". This is a new thing, I don't recall people even in my generation having that kind of pressure.

Last edited by susanl on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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I'm the wordy one today, but just to keep in the spirit of what I've posted on a couple of other threads...it's a stage in history that we are at, is what I'm putting together. The Reaction is out in force, using their last bullets, their heaviest weapons. Sometimes, it's hard for women to get engaged, because you all have been indoctrinated for hundreds if not thousands of years to not allow yourselves to see the enemy for what they are in some or many situations.

Anti-feminism is about classes and it's about money. About keeping money from changing hands, about keeping power through money.

One of the hydra-heads of the Reaction, is now being seen in what has been addressed, the issue of control of the internet, ability of the lower classes to get their views aired, and the ability of politicians to look after someone besides the upper crust, power elite.

Yes, I know, some are going to say that nowadays, there are women way up in the stratosphere of power in corporate West.

And, that appears to be true, just as it's also true that Hillary is a powerful contender for President of the U.S. But you Brits know, perhaps as well as any, how that can pan out for women, through your experience of the Iron Lady as your PM

I do NOT want to demean Mdme. Thatcher's accomplishments or her position as a first. But you may recall, she took actions which reinforced the class system in favor of the wealthy. Also, what pressure was she under, if not to reassert Britain's military and imperialist roles of old?

Similarly, just as we saw with JFK, and are now seeing with Obama, there will be pressure on the first woman to be this...puppet of the power elite. Especially with these stinky US Supreme Court rulings "deregulating" campaign spending and contributions so that the wealthy don't have any undue restrictions!

The poorest person on earth is a woman. When you can see that, you can begin to see who the ultimate victims of this reassertion of the power elites, are. Dominate the political landscape with money, dominate the internet with high-end expensive providers, silence the opposition with increasing surveillance, home invasion, street capture and assassination-without-trial powers for their corporate state.

That's how they will do it. Can we for once see this coming? I can see it coming. It's already pretty well nigh here. Women are unraveling, and unions are destroyed, no longer because of the economic threat they presented, but because of their potential to give workers a place to gather and COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER.

Breaking out the guns, packing the heat, getting those voting rights limited again. This is the Reaction speaking, and it's been exacerbated by the absence of minorities from the GOP lately, driving them further and further to the Right, chasing the flakes.But some of those flakes are very wealthy, and very savvy about how to leverage their wealth.

I'm trying to figure out a way to stop this.

Last edited by m.standridge on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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BTW, I mentioned Firefox browser behaving crappilly (not a word) lately.Even more so, or at least more of a threat, is this new security rent at Gates's infamous Internet Explorer.

IE has always had an unearned and undeserved popularity, as long-time net users more or less know.

Use anything but a browser that has the Trident rendering engines. That includes Avant (unless you get the newest version that allows a full-blown disconnect from Trident for entire browsing sessions). I can't be sure, but I think you can use the latest version of Maxthon that way, too. I've not tried it yet.This warning off, includes even the Chrome browser, though many sites are mistakenly directing people to it. Chrome has an ugly little hole that plugs it also into the Trident mesh. It isn't as bad as a couple of years ago, but it's still got the potential to plug you into that Trident vulnerability.

Firefox, Sea Monkey and any other Gecko rendering engine-based browser is a safe bet, as is the Opera browser. At least for now. Of course, everyone prefers IE, it has a lot of features that work well. But it never has made passing grades on security. They'll eventually get the security bug, as they've done a zillion times before. But in the meantime, trying to help friends not get zapped. If you've got a good virus scanner--McAfee, Norton, etc.--you may survive, too, as they are trying to stay on top. But try to realize that a virus scanner, like a good cop, is always one step behind the bad guy (bug). It could still get you before the scan.

If you're not going to be doing fast browsing or video, you can use the Off-by-One, or "OB1" browser, the Webster browser. It doesn't allow the same security holes as IE, but it's an older browser that you can't do as much with. You can download it for free, but I'm not going to give you a link, since a standing link I have may have a security hole in it, too, by now. Maybe do a Search engine and use "Webster browser" or "Off by One browser" and you'll get some links to download it.

Mozilla.org sponsors both Sea Monkey and Firefox. They made the original Mozilla browser and the old timer, Netscape, which has been shot down in flames, bless it, by the folks at AOL who changed it into a Trident-based browser after awhile. The best version of it, 7.2, was never really improved upon because they started tacking it to the Trident rendering engine with 8.0, and ultimately canned it. It was my love, though, and I hated to see it go. But I can't say you can use it, per se, anymore. It was just such a pretty browser, is all.

But Firefox is a fine browser, and descendant of Netscape, as is Sea Monkey. You probably won't get a virus, using them.

But I know you probably will want to go back to IE when it's fixed!

Last edited by m.standridge on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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Of course, now, that above is for Windows. If you're using tablets and cells--as I do sometimes--you're more likely using the Android or Apple Operating Systems. That's a whole 'nother can of worms--or can be. It hasn't had many problems yet, but, odds are, it's only a matter of time. Trying to keep from thinking about it.Think positive, keep hopeful, focus on positive energy, and steer clear of the Trident rendering engine for web browsing for a little while. They may already have a handle on this thing, but just in case...Now it's back over to Mom's.Best in all,MaxS

Last edited by m.standridge on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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The thing is, Max, whether it is the power elite who are encouraging this new gender war, it's ordinary men who prove to be their warriors. Just ordinary men.

One thing I notice over here is that it tends to be the top and the bottom end of society who are most responsible - our Cabinet over here is severely lacking a female input, for example. Our Parliament is a perfect example of gender difference exposed. But the trolls and fools show a singular lack of development that is distressing.

I think this is more than a simple power-engineered rebellion. I think very very ordinary men are engaged in this.....those who are not influenced by toffs at the top. In fact many of these men seem to have as much contempt for toffs at the top as they do for women.

On your point, Susan, I have this kind of kneejerk about that sort of hair removal....I'm not yet old enough to be able to say categorically that it all falls off when you're very old....though I can confirm it thins ;-) So for me an insistence to remove it all makes me think about the only time that happened with me naturally as a female...which was when I was a child. I then wonder why a man might want to reinforce that appearance. Surely normal men are aware women too have pubic hair?

And then that thought turns me to the very high profile child sex abusers currently have in Britain as they are brought to court....maybe the two are connected?

Loadsa love

Last edited by Jan on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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Arise anew as a child of the dawnRemember whence you cameWalk lightly, leaving whispers for footprintsAnd shine, refreshed in your rebirth

Generals have to have lieutenants...right? The Reaction is about pushing back down all those seeking to rise higher, whether it was a growing middle class, minority racial or religious group members...or women. Reaction doesn't want change, never wanted it, wanted to keep the power structure as it was. It'll use all kinds of things...social pressure, mass media, stereotyping, verbal and group behavior and reinforcers.You know, I'm here in the south, but there have long been groups of other guys--and areas of my own state--that I more or less avoid. Good ol' boys, as it were. I can often ...maneuver my way through a gathering if I find myself more or less having to do so...It's about fear, about gathering in fear, taking comfort in numbers. Increasingly, your sports buddies, the group, get more and more reinforced to dip toward anti-woman...behavior, speech.Anyway, since you spoke directly to me, I responded. But, truly, I'm sorry to have been so long-winded. It was just so good to get to be in front of the keyboard for a while today. These are concerns. Gay rights...what to say. There are parts of this state, this night, right now, that I wouldn't want to hang out with the country dudes and be advocating pro-gay things, know what I mean? Yes, here on the sidewalks of Little Rock, or over at the Unitarian Church, people can, you know, openly talk, bravely talk. Out there in the deep woods, well, you know...don't be a fool. I couldn't really talk about my prostate issues, even, these guys have no "patience." They're, you know, "sick and tired." Etc.Thank you for taking the time to pay attention to me.MaxS

Last edited by m.standridge on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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Reaction manages to...manipulate frustrations produced by this limited, almost dying, economy among males...to manipulate them, to think it's the fault of minorities, of women...Instead of focusing on the source, or confronting the people at the top, it's just easier and simpler to take one's frustrations out on those immediately closer.There's a certain amount of disdain for the corporate big wigs, but this is seldom expressed in a progressive way these days...never in the sense of an alliance with women or minorities, to rise up together and rebuild the middle class.Rather, the focus is on those few minorities and women who have made it in the tops of the corps.

Is that not what you're hearing? Younger guys...are often, behaviorally, better feminists than me...but maybe not verbally.

I don't know...it HAS been a few years since I had a lot of contact with large numbers of younger men. I suppose these young guys, who are often taught how to cook, etc., in the schools, can cook, keep house...no problem with that. Guys a little older...housekeeping, cooking...was not done, left to women. The younger guys, seem to take on the cooking, but the rhetoric of the Reaction is still there. I seldom was aggressive enough to hang out with people all that much. I think women went through a stage, a few years back, where they were backtracking themselves sometimes...now, they seem to be rallying.

Last edited by m.standridge on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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Well and could I just respond to the type of issue Susan was referring to, as well: this about physical control of women's appearance, body, etc.In other words, all these...bizarre...almost...antics...by males regarding women's bodies.Online, I communicated with a young woman named Chelsea. She has "done up" her breasts in a...it turns out, a sad way.She has had something done that will cause her breasts to continue to expand in size, for the rest of her life.

I have been trying to realize what she has allowed to be done to her body. This particular surgical practice, is not engaged in by the American Medical Association, nor is it permitted under FDA guidelines here.But I see all kinds of...pressure about this on the internet.

At the same time, from another direction, there is increasing ...noticing of Hispanics and increasing rhetoric about the "threat of illegal immigrants. That, too, is largely from males, but also white females.

However, from the Left, we have this...almost brand-new emphasis by Gays to be able to openly marry and engage.

What I keep picking up here, from all these different segments of the human population, is a kind of...induced...paranoia...a sense that they are being ...infringed upon, spied upon, discriminated against...at a higher and higher level.

Now, I'm NOT saying minority groups--racial, gender orientation, religious and women--don't have genuine issues. There ARE genuine issues for them still, including legal issues.

But the focus...I wonder: why is it that EVERYONE in the lower income levels, in ALL these groups, is pointing fingers at one another, feeling paranoid, spied upon, threatened?

Isn't it really because all the folks at the lower end, are being deprived increasingly, not only of financial means but of a sense of future financial security? Each group...sees itself surrounded by its fellows, like troops in combat watching fellow soldiers getting cut down...a sense of impending doom if they don't DO SOMETHING.

So you have white males becoming active in the "tea party" and other right-wing outfits, and all this hostility toward women.

But you also have...gays...feeling the NEED to know that they aren't being spied on and thereby discriminated against because of laws against them being able to be open in their relationships. ..It's like, it's the SAME fear, among all the lower income, formerly middle class people. Each is seeing...possibly nemesis at all income levels, toward their particular group, and thinking/hoping that just a step that impacts lower income as well as upper income, will...alleviate their financial concerns.

Yet, isn't it true, that the money is being SUCKED UPWARD, not sideways. All the economic statistics show this, all over the West, at least, if not everywhere.

It's the same dynamic as what my sister described is going on, in microcosm, in her marriage right now. She and her husband are experiencing extreme stress, increasing irritability with one another, because their financial situation is deteriorating dramatically, rapidly, right before their eyes.

It is something I've heard about all my life, from others...husband and wife, fighting, ultimately, due to financial stresses, and the emotional breaks they are producing.

I mean, the poor gays...they are obviously feeling paranoid and discriminated against because they can't find good jobs, or keep good jobs. Someone must be spying on them, right?

Yet, look around...who ISN'T having that problem? That doesn't mean I'm trying to be hostile to them increasing their rights or something...but isn't it an interesting coincidence that this...concern to be able to be open and not spied upon...is happening right now, when the economy has been tanking so much?

What am I trying to say? Just...that...the enemy really is AT THE TOP of the economic ladder. And, they, at least here in the States, are taking very effective steps to solidify their position, and it's going to take herculean effort to unseat their power here at this point.

I nearly know a similar dynamic is going on there in Europe, because your economic stats are following the same patterns ours are.

So this...effort by males to ...enhance their sexual prowess (perhaps?) by...sadistically pressuring women to do...weird "different" things to their bodies...after all, the first thing that happens to a male when money crops up as an issue, is the male erection goes away...

Yet, torturing her body it isn't GOING TO FIX IT, though, is my point, even if it were something tolerable.

Last edited by m.standridge on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
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To be really frank I do not wish to take this back to US politics, Max. For me the US is just another country...you know? I am concerned about a real issue that appears to be facing women today in their everyday lives no matter where they were born nor reside....oh...actually that's not quite right....

"No matter where they reside" that's the bit that gets me to thinking that is wrong. There have been, in the last couple of years some utterly unconscionable activities perpetuated against women...and more particularly you girls...what about all these kidnaps of girls trying to learn in Nigeria? What about the ongoing issue of female genital mutilation common across the Arab world? What about the process of forced marriage of girls as young as 10 in certain communities (including my own)? These are not US issues. These are worldwide issues.

As are the growing levels of sexist trollism, the death threats on social media, the overall incorporation of anti-female jokes in the repertoire of comedians. This is just plain disgusting. I would not point at your country as one particularly responsible...though feel free to correct me if these things are rife in the US.....I point to the entire world.

Why...suddenly....is it imperative to put women down again? To subject little girls to sexual exploitation? To deride and decry half of the population? Why is that happening all over again and this time so overtly that it smacks you in the eyes?

Now that's the question I would wish to answer.....

Loadsa love

Last edited by Jan on 01 Jan 1970, 00:00, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:''

Arise anew as a child of the dawnRemember whence you cameWalk lightly, leaving whispers for footprintsAnd shine, refreshed in your rebirth